Reading Revitalization And Improvement Zone Authority Holds First Meeting

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Berks County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The newly formed City of Reading Revitalization and Improvement Zone Authority held its inaugural meeting Wednesday night to outline its agenda over the next week.

The authority will be working to identify a potential city revitalization and improvement zone.

The CRIZ program was created by recent state legislation. The state departments of Revenue, Community and Economic Development and the Governor’s Office of Budget administer the program.

A CRIZ zone is an area of up to 130 acres comprising parcels that will provide economic development and job creation within a city. All new state and local taxes collected within the CRIZ will be used to repay debt service to stimulate economic development projects within the zone.

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Loans From Reading Sought For Downtown Hotel Project

Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States with township and municipal boundaries (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The long-planned Doubletree Convention Center Hotel downtown has hit a new snag, and its chief developer – retailer Albert R. Boscov – is asking the city for help.

Boscov told City Council and the administration Monday that the project has lost the $1 million commitment it was counting on from the Lancaster-based Community First Fund.

That fund last week announced it was giving $6 million in federal new markets tax credits to another city project – Shuman Development Co.’s plans for market-rate apartments in the old Big Mill outlets at Eighth and Oley streets – leaving none for the hotel.

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Quality-Of-Life Amnesty Programs Pay Off For Reading

A 1947 topographic map of the Reading, Pennsylvania area. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

With finally final figures, the city announced Monday that it will gain $628,563 from Mayor Vaughn D. Spencer’s amnesty program for long-overdue quality-of-life tickets and rental-housing fees.

That’s after quietly keeping the program open for an extra month, which gained the city more than another $17,000.

Spencer had announced last fall that the amnesty would run two months, from Dec. 17 to Feb. 15.

The sweetener was that late fees would be waived; the threat was that those who ignored the offer would be turned over to a bill collector, who would add a 15 percent penalty.

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